Farmhand Kemmer hitting his way up Astros chain

Texas League's top hitter in 2015 primed for AAA

In 104 games for Class AA Corpus Christi last season, Jon Kemmer he hit .327 with a .988 OPS.

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - As Ed Kemmer milked cows one morning at his family's small dairy farm five decades ago, he asked his father if he would let him play Little League. It was a bold request by the oldest of seven children to play baseball instead of helping around the farm in tiny Kingsville, Penn.

"If you can figure out how you're going to get to practice and get home and find time to get your work done, you can play," Kemmer remembers his father, Forest, saying.

Put another way, no.

To understand the work ethic that has helped Astros minor leaguer Jon Kemmer earn his first invitation to major league camp at 25, it's important to learn about his upbringing and his father's devotion.

Ed Kemmer never played a single inning of organized baseball. He graduated high school before finally signing up for a softball team. Work came first during his childhood. Play was a distant last.

"It was so long ago," Ed Kemmer said via phone from his home in Clarion, Penn. "But my work ethic I tried to push on to Jon. Work came first, and then you play. I didn't play organized baseball, but I loved it and studied it."

Ed passed his love of baseball and sports down to the youngest of his three boys. He read as much as possible about baseball to learn the sport and coached Jon throughout his youth.

Ed rushed home after his shift at the local Owens-Illinois Glass plant, then worked with Jon after they finished their chores around the house. Ed and Jackie Kemmer transformed their garage under the basement into a batting cage of sorts. Over time, the softball nets they used hardly stood a chance against Jon's powerful hits.

A danger to windows

After a high school game or practice, it was not unusual for Jon to ask his father to throw him 200 extra pitches of batting practice in the basement.

"He ended up taking all the windows out of the garage. He got so strong," Ed said. "We learned to accept that. We put in Plexiglas windows."

The 6-2, 220-pound outfielder/first baseman/designated hitter has been one of the most consistent hitters in the Astros' farm system since he was drafted as a senior out of tiny Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Ga.

He has a career .290 batting average, .365 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage over three minor league seasons.

He won the Texas League batting title and the Class AA Corpus Christi Player of the Year Award in 2015, hitting .327 with 18 home runs, 65 RBIs, 28 doubles and four triples with a .988 OPS over 104 games for the Hooks.

Not bad for a kid who didn't play in a college summer league until after his junior season at Brewton-Parker.

Football fanatic

Actually, baseball isn't Jon Kemmer's first love. He wanted to play football in college, but coaches didn't exactly go mining for talent at Kemmer's rural 1A school more than an hour from Pittsburgh.

Although he briefly played for Clarion High's basketball team, Jon was mostly a football/baseball guy. He was Clarion's middle linebacker, running back, punter and field-goal kicker.

"He knows how to work (and is a) good old farm boy," Ed Kemmer said. "He could have played college football for sure. In his high school career, he was on the field for every play. Other kids got a break, but he was on the field for every play of every game."

Kemmer kicked a career-best 44-yard field goal by bouncing the ball off the crossbar and over.

"I really wanted to play college football, but I didn't get many offers, so I decided to go with my little better sport," he said. "I went to a real small school. We graduated with 80 kids in my senior class. Not many scouts or colleges are around the area. You had the local college, and it wasn't very good in sports."

So Kemmer took his talents to Georgia.

Ed Kemmer retired from Owens-Illinois Glass after 37 years, and he has followed Jon's athletic career closely ever since. His pride oozes through the phone as he rattles off his son's high school statistics, but only after after proclaiming he almost hates citing the numbers because people might think he's making them up. Nonetheless, he tells you exactly where to verify that his son led Pennsylvania in four stats and the country in three in 2009.

"His batting average was .777, on-base-plus-slugging percentage was 1.700," Ed says. "He can hit. He's hit at every place he's been with power and for average."

Inherited work ethic

Jon credits his father with helping him develop as a hitter, raving about the man who wasn't allowed to play Little League ball because there were too many cows to milk and not enough money.

Jon also put in several hours working on local farms as a kid, continuing to do so during summers in high school and college. He says he learned about hard work by picking corn and potatoes or by working on farm equipment.

"They taught you how to work," Jon said.

Kemmer will likely start the season at Class AAA Fresno, one short flight from the ultimate goal his father couldn't afford to fathom as a child.

"My dad wouldn't be one guy to sit down and watch someone outwork him or someone do some work that he could easily do," Kemmer said. "Where I get (my motivation) from is the thought of sitting around waiting for somebody to pass you as you're trying to pass everyone else. If anybody is going to outwork me, I'd love to see them try. I enjoy working out, working out hard, and having fun doing it."

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